Website Addressing Teen Mental Health: Helena, MT

Democracy Project teens in Helena have built a website to support teens seeking information about mental health issues. The site is MT4MH.org — Montana Teens for Mental Health — and features definitions, reassuring peer-to-peer messages, hotlines, and videos on breathwork. Affirmations wave across the bottom of the screen, reading:  Just breathe — Be proud of yourself — You can do it — We believe in you — Just keep slaying!!! — It’s okay not to feel okay.

One teen shared that their biggest success was “… getting to speak up for myself.” Another added that success was “the website; it was so awesome to watch it grow together as we all added our two cents.” Teens researched and wrote the content, did all the graphic design, and built the site. They also managed their budget and reached out to local officials, including Helena mayor Wilmot Collins, who attended the culminating event, an open house at Lewis and Clark Library intended to raise awareness of these issues and draw folks to the website.